Army National Guard Spc. Sergio Eduardo Perez grew up in East Chicago and graduated from Lake Central. He died just three years later when his vehicle was hit by rocket-propelled grenades in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. His family was honored Nov. 11 as the 2019 North Township Gold Star Family at Wicker Park Social Center. It was a bittersweet honor for Veronica Orozco and her three daughters. “It seems like only yesterday Sergio was here, planning his future after the military,” the Gold Star mother said. “The Gold Star organization has made this wound more bearable than it would have been. My pain is their pain and their pain is mine. We help each other.”